Our UofO schedule is a full one. We have already had 2 meets, we had the Pepsi invite as well, and without break we have sea ray relays, UCLA dual meet, and Oregon relays. No weekends off, which means our training schedule doesn’t permit us to practice throwing during the weak (we stay fresh by only throwing once a week, and that counts a meet) so after Stanford invite where I had a personal best at 245'3" which I was quite impressed with. It’s early in the season and that pretty far to be throwing, and improving. We had Pepsi invite coming up and sea rays right after. We had to break these meets down by importance, we have to throw at them all but we don’t have to take all of our throws, we don’t want to get burnt out early in the season. So we all agreed that the Pepsi invite has no competitors (besides the Oregon team) so we would use it as a practice meet for the sea ray relays which is such a bigger meet. It normally host professional athletes and is always a big throws meet to be at. It’s in Tennessee so it always feels fun to travel someplace outside of the bordering states of Oregon

At Stanford I was throwing from about a 1/2 approach or 3/4 approach. I take 4 steps running, pull back the jav, and take 7 steps sideways and block on that left leg. Pepsi was a practice meet for me to throw from my last year’s full approach 6 steps running and 7 steps sideways. So just 2 extra steps at the start. But with 2 steps I should get a lot more speed into the jav. So I took some run throughs at practice (no throwing) and made marks so I could be ready at the meet.

Saturday rolled around it was time to see what would happen. I had been getting some press from my 245 throw the week earlier so I think there were some faces in the crowd that wanted to see me throw at Hayward. The locals in Eugene are crazy, they have been around since Prefontaine and when u said the world track u thought of Oregon. sadly when u say track and field now days most people don’t think Oregon but I would like to say that soon we could develop the program and get it back to that status.

Anyway it was a beautiful day on Saturday. we were scheduled to throw at 1130, so a little early and we weren’t going to be on live TV (Comcast sports net our local sports channel in Oregon) but they were filming and going to air it between events. So there was still something to shoot for. It was suppose to be a really warm day, like 61 degrees, and for April 4th in Oregon that not bad at all! So at 1130 it was prob about 52 degrees, we had a light head wind which isn’t ideal but it’s still just fine.

my coach (Christina Scherwin) made goals for us all being as the other competitors had not thrown that far so it was basically me, Alex, and Britton in a league all our own. We needed something to compete for. Britton’s goal was to throw 62m+ so about 203ft. Alex’s goal was to hit the big 70m mark (~230) which is something that he has been wanting to get, and also qualifies you for USA nationals. My goal was to throw 70M+. Our last goal was a team goal, our goal was to take one two three at the meet. We wanted to run the victory lap together, it’s a big deal that javelin is coming back into Oregon Track and field. Now before I go on u might say wait Oregon is not a throws school its s a distance... well if you look at the distance champs compared to the javelin champs its equal, there are 7 NCAA Champs in both the 5K and the Javelin (which are both the most by any event.

so when I left in the morning I told my roommate that I am going from a new approach with a little more speed, I could either throw really far, or I could do really horrible (because I can’t handle the extra speed).

Coming into the meet I felt great. I wanted to get that 70m mark but I wasn’t sure, 70m is a far throw its never a guarantee, but in the back of my head I definitely wanted to get the school record at about 77m (252'10") I told my head coaches that I would do it at the Pepsi but I can’t be calling my shots like that, that was cocky of me. I didn’t feel pressured to do anything special though. I knew that this was a practice meet. Throw 3 or 4 throws, get 70 meters and be more prepared for sea rays. And if I didn’t break the school record at Pepsi than I could do it at sea rays, and I was confident of that.

Britton and Alex were like the 4th and 5th throwers and I was last. I don’t know why they set it up like that but it was ok with me, I got to see them throw and have enough time to get ready for me to throw. Britton got up and thru 63m he got his goal that Christina made for him. Alex got up and threw 71.52m that 234'4" which is big. And like I said throwing 70m isn’t a guarantee. I haven’t even thrown from this approach this year. So it was going to be something. I congratulated Alex on the big throw, and thanked him for pushing me. I told him I would do my best to try to beat him.

the week before at Stanford I was so pumped that Britton PRed and this week Alex PRed, Oregon javelin was getting noticed (thanks to our coach Christina Scherwin!). I was pumped up ready to throw thanks to Alex and his big PR

I forgot to mention it before but in warm ups I had placed my marks for my approach that I had set from practice on the runway, but when I did some practice approaches at the meet I was way too close to the line. I had to move 6ft back which is a pretty big change, considering I am taking the same amount of steps, it just means I am a lot faster at the meet than at practice.

So I get up and the announcer says my name, and I said a little prayer. I asked God to help Scott penny with his MCATs and to help me throw far. I told Scott (a teammate that throws hammer) that I would think about him on my first throw, and I held up my end of that bargain. I kept saying under my breath, "quick hips, quick hips" over and over again. It’s something that we have been working on with me, using my hips and not my arm. Many people commonly think that the javelin is thrown with the arm muscles, but I have really learned that the speed you gain on the runway really does all the work, (I will touch more on this in a bit).

I started my approach and pulled back, did my sideways cross over steps and hit the block leg. my hips cranked thru and my shoulder pressed forward, but my arm was still reached back and had not pulled thru, then at the last second my arm shot thru the point of the javelin, it was like I didn’t even use my arm, it just followed thru. I screamed and shouted. The throw had a low angle but it just didn’t seem to want to come down. I knew it was a big throw. I was thinking that I wanted to start to yell again, lots of throwers yell at their throws while they are in the air, but I normally just think those guys are dumb, and I didn’t want to be one of those guys. Lol. But I was just thinking "don’t scratch this throw!" I made sure the javelin landed before I walked off, and I was thinking "don’t trip" because rules say u  have to exit the runway in control, so hopping off, skipping, falling, tripping out of the runway is a scratch. I exited the ring and I was pumped. I knew it was big. The goal of school record at 77 meters was going to become a reality; I was hoping I got it.

The tape measure was pulled tight and I was eager to see what it said. I had no clue what the throw was. The last line out there is 230 feet and it’s hard to see let alone to know how far over the line it is. they pulled the measuring tame tight and I saw just a few feet past the line the number 275, I almost fainted, my throw was somewhere under 275' that was a huge PR! I told Alex u will never believe this. And he asked me how far it was, I still didn’t know for sure so I just waited to hear it. 83.16m 272'10" I started to scream and I was so happy. I couldn’t believe it, 80m was something I wanted to throw at the end of the year, not at week 3. But I was happy to throw it at week 3. I had the school record by 20 feet. And not only that but the meet record by 21 feet, and I was only 7 feet away from the stadium record. The announcer then told me that it was a PAC 10 record! I couldn’t believe it. That wasn’t the icing on the cake though. They said it was the 4th best throw by any collegiate thrower ever! AND even though it’s early in the season I had the farthest throw in the world. Yes that’s right the WORLD. I couldn’t believe it.

I ran to my coach and wanted to give her a hug but there were officials saying that I could not go onto the track at all. so I stayed just inside late one, but I had nothing to say to her, we were suppose to go over to her to ask her for pointers on what to fix but I couldn’t image that we would really work on anything after a 27.5 foot PR on the year. But as a joke I asked her if there was anything I needed to work on. The crowd laughed.

My coach said that I could stop throwing after 1 throw if I wanted. but I told her my dad and brother are here, the fans paid money for their tickets to see something exciting so I didn’t want to tease them with 1 throw and then just walk away. So I told her I wanted to throw 1 more.

she said ok but don’t throw hard, but in my head I kind of thought well maybe if the crowd gives me the slow clap who knows what a little adrenaline can do for me, maybe I could go farther. The first one felt so effortless; maybe I can still be safe and throw another big one.

I got up and ran down the runway, I hit my block and my leg felt like it was fused to the track. It didn’t want to move. it hit my hips around even harder, my foot was stuck in the ground and I pivoted over the top of my leg and couldn’t get my other leg underneath me to catch me so I fell to the ground. It’s not a bad thing to fall on your face; a lot of the best throwers in the world do it. It doesn’t help u either though. But when a thrower falls on his or her face don’t laugh because it’s not because they are bad or anything.

Instantly I knew the throw was big too, but the jav was stalling out, I pulled down on the throw and it was not thrown perfectly thru the point like the last one. They marked if off just under 80m (79.80m 261'10") not too shabby for a second attempt.

later in video I could see that my first throw has some improvements I could make, mainly my block leg gives a little (where my second throw doesn’t give at all!) if I could put those 2 throws together it would be better than 83. So I still see improvement to come. Will I do it next week? I don’t think so. I don’t think I will throw 83m again for a while. I need to maintain. I have totally skipped all throws from 245 to 272 so I need to hit some big throws in between, keep training and learning get stronger, faster, and hopefully by PAC 10s and Nationals I will be PRing again.

As for the next 2 weeks (before the professional javelin throwers in Europe start really opening up) I will be ranked #1 in the world. Which is pretty sweet. I can’t understand it. Now maybe u don’t know but to PR by 10 ft in a year in the javelin is amazing. Some people don’t PR at all in a year. But last year I PRed by 33 feet, this year in 3 weeks I have PRed by 31 feet, so I have had some amazing last year and half. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next couple months. Alex and I have qualified for USA nationals, and I have the A standard for the world games in Berlin Germany this year. So I am going to have a long season ahead of me.

God gave me the ability to throw a javelin far, where he takes me with it I don’t know, but I will do my best to be an upstanding person and be an ambassador of Christ, representing a Christian in a good way. I give the glory to god for he has given me the ability to shine